News

Car crashes into West Oakland church after fleeing from San Francisco shooting

Bay City News Service

Posted:
07/01/2013 07:47:41 AM PDT

Updated:
07/01/2013 07:47:43 AM PDT

Four people were taken into custody when a car crashed into a West Oakland church after a shooting in San Francisco and a chase across the Bay on Sunday night, police said.

Shots were fired at Leavenworth and McAllister Streets in San Francisco just before 8:30 p.m., San Francisco police Sgt. Dennis Toomer said.

No one was injured, but responding officers spotted a silver-colored sedan seen driving away from the area with three males and a female inside, he said.

Police attempted to stop the vehicle on the Bay Bridge but the driver refused to yield, Toomer said.

A gun was thrown from the car during the pursuit, which Toomer said ended near Market Street and West Grand Avenue in Oakland, where the car was last seen.

However, a short time later, the car crashed about two blocks away, at West Grand Avenue and West Street, he said.

The vehicle, a silver four-door Mercedes, smashed through the wall of Joshua Christian Church and ended up completely inside the building.

Arriving officers located two male suspects and a female suspect near the car, and took them into custody, San Francisco police said.

A third male was located near 22nd and Curtis streets and also taken into custody.

Shortly before 11 p.m., the car was still inside the church and was being slowly removed by a tow truck.

A small crowd had gathered nearby to watch, including Joshua Christian Church Pastor Donald Scurry, who said he had gotten a call informing him of the crash earlier in the night.

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He joked that the driver must have really wanted to make it to the morning service on time.

Scurry said the damage to the church is extensive, and that the car took out a number of pews. He anticipates that the next service, which is scheduled for Tuesday, will be canceled or held upstairs if the building is deemed safe.

He pointed to skid marks on West Grand Avenue and said it appears the driver lost control while trying to turn right onto West Street while speeding.

Scurry noted that it was lucky no one was inside the church at the time of the crash, especially since there was a service there earlier in the night.

"We had a renewal of vows this evening," he said.

Scurry said the church has been hit by cars several times in the past.

"One time a limousine went in there," he said.

This crash caused the most damage, though, and Scurry said it would help to have metal bars on the sidewalk around the church to block it from traffic.

The San Francisco shooting was the second in the city's Civic Center area on Sunday evening and the third in San Francisco that day.

Multiple gunshots were fired in the area of Larkin and Grove streets around 6:35 p.m., just minutes after the SF Pride celebration officially wrapped up.

The victims, two men, were both shot in the leg and suffered injuries that were not life-threatening, Toomer said.

A suspect was seen running on Larkin Street after the shooting, but no arrest has been made. It is not clear if the victims were the intended targets of the shooting.

Earlier in the day, around 3 p.m., a 30-year-old man was shot and killed on the 700 block of Kirkwood Avenue in the Bayview District.